Macao recorded 15.89 million visitor arrivals in the first nine months, a year-on-year rise of 15.4 percent, according to official statistics issued on Tuesday.

The figures released by the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the majority of visitors came in the period from the Chinese mainland (54.8 percent), Hong Kong (31.4 percent) and Taiwan (6.8 percent).

Macao, with its famed casino gaming industry, has long been a tourism destination in Asia.

The region, with a population of 503,000, logged a record 18.71 million visitor arrivals in 2005 and the number is predicted by local analysts to exceed 21 million this year.

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